-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Famed folk singer Richie Havens , the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival , died Monday of a sudden heart attack , his publicist said . He was 72 .

Havens , who retired three years ago , toured for more than 30 years and recorded 30 albums .

Havens told Billboard that his breakthrough at Woodstock came after another artist 's equipment got stuck in traffic . He was supposed to be the fifth act .

`` It was 5 o'clock and nothing was happening yet , '' Havens told Billboard . `` I had the least instruments -LRB- to set up on stage -RRB- and the least people -LRB- in his band -RRB- . ''

So Havens went on and performed for 40 minutes , as planned . Organizers asked him to do four more songs , he told Billboard .

`` I went back and did that , then it was , ` Four more songs ... ' and that kept happening 'til two hours and 45 minutes later , I had sung every song I know , '' he said .

Havens , a Brooklyn , New York , native , told CNN in 1999 that music enabled him to leave his rough neighborhood to head to Greenwich Village and the music scene there .

Music was always a part of his life .

`` I believe I inherited my sense of music from my father . My father was an ear piano player ; he could just hear something and play it , '' he recalls . `` I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20 . That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble , and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another . ''

His inspiration for songs about social change and protest came when he heard artists like Fred Neil , Dino Valenti and Tom Paxton . That 's when he knew what he wanted to do with his life .

`` It was the songs that actually changed my life , '' he says . `` The songs that I heard were so much different than the doo-wop kind of thing . They were just so powerful . Finally I decided , ` I 've got to do this . ' ''

Before Woodstock , his nights were filled with playing as often as possible to make a few dollars .

`` We played three coffeehouses a night , 14 sets a night , 20-minute sets , pass the basket , stay alive , '' he told CNN . `` I was there seven and a half years , every day . It was the most incredibly magic , magic time . ''

After Havens gained attention at Woodstock , he recorded a soulful-voiced cover of the Beatles ' `` Here Comes the Sun , '' which rose on the pop charts in 1970 .

Stephen Stills of Crosby , Stills and Nash said Havens was an inspiration for the natural gravel in his singing voice . He called Havens a passionate performer .

`` He lit fire when he started playing within the first song and burned exactly the same way throughout his set . And it never stopped , it never changed , '' Stills said .

He added that he thought Havens ' style was probably a little too arcane to appeal to a mass audience .

`` But he sure knew what to do when they were begging for someone to go on first , when all those people showed up at Woodstock , '' Stills said .

Havens returned to Woodstock for the 40th anniversary festival in 2009 .

`` While his family greatly appreciates that Richie 's many fans are also mourning this loss , they do ask for privacy during this difficult time , '' a statement from his publicist , Carrie Lombardi , said .

Billboard reported Havens died in New Jersey , leaving behind four daughters and five grandchildren .

People we lost in 2013 : The lives they lived

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NEW : Havens told CNN once that he always had music in his life

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The Brooklyn , New York , native , gained attention at Woodstock

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Stephen Stills says Havens was on fire when he played

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His cover of the Beatles ' `` Here Comes the Sun '' rose on the pop charts in 1970